Museum buys working gun made on 3-D printer

September 16, 2013

LONDON - Britain's Victoria & Albert Museum says it has bought a working gun made on a 3-D printer, which sparked alarm among anti-firearms campaigners when it was unveiled in the United States.

The museum says the gun is an addition to its collection of "new, influential, innovative or experimental" contemporary design.

The "Liberator" gun was developed by University of Texas law student Cody Wilson, and made from plastic components created on a 3-D printer.

Wilson fired the gun in May, and posted blueprints online, sparking a debate about potential uses of the machines, which pump out layers of plastics, metal and other materials to create 3-D objects with moving parts.

The museum said Sunday it had acquired two Liberator prototypes, a disassembled gun and a number of archive items.